On Assignment
IN THE RIGHT PLACE at the right time,
the GEOGRAPHIC was on hand during
two watersheds of Philippine history.
After the election last February, as the
world wondered if President Ferdinand
Marcos would step down or stand and
fight, illustrations editor Elie Rogers re
ceived an extraordinary phone call from
photographer Steve McCurry, who was
among the first to enter Malacafiang Palace
after Marcos fled (below right).
Steve was calling from Imelda Marcos's
bedroom, still overflowing with her sump
tuous wardrobe. "Looters were just grab
bing things," he recalls. "Some were so
loaded down that they could hardly walk."
On the president's desk he saw a communi
que from the White House warning Marcos
against using force. The palace was strewn
with fast-food chicken and noodle contain
ers from a final meal. In a chapel near the
entrance Steve saw a poignant scene, the re
maining palace staff praying-"and they
seemed very frightened," he says.
Steve had spent seven months in the Phil
ippines photographing for this, his seventh
article for the magazine.
Recalling a bloody confrontation of 43
years earlier, senior assistant editor Wil
liam Graves returned to Corregidor (be
low left) and found the shattered remains of
the quarters of his stepfather, Francis B.
Sayre, then U. S. High Commissioner to
the Philippines. On Christmas Eve, 1941,
in the teeth of the Japanese invasion, Bill's
family was evacuated from Manila to Cor
regidor and housed in Malinta Tunnel,
Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters.
Bill turned reporter at 14, keeping a diary
as the Japanese pounded the island. He viv
idly recalls the sinking of President Manuel
Quezon's yacht Casiana. Earlier he had
gaped at "14 pairs of silk pajamas" in Que
zon's luxurious stateroom. After the yacht
sank, divers salvaged "cases of Scotch, and
they gave me a late Christmas present-big
chunks of delicious chocolate." On Febru
ary 24 the family boarded the submarine
U.S. S. Swordfish for a harrowing escape to
Australia.
Bill joined our staff in 1956. He now uses
his irrepressible energy to plan and edit arti
cles on adventure and expeditions, such as
the Titanic discovery and polar treks.
I